Customer Service Data Base Project

Another category of software development projects has been the development of project management data base software. One example of this type of project was an “application”
for a Customer Service Department”.

The Customer Service Representatives took orders over the phone and
entered the information into the custom Data Base Application. The application would then automatically generate “requests
for estimates” for the 16 various trade groups, (ie. plumbers,
electricians etc.). When the estimates were completed, they were
entered back into the system. The representatives could then obtain
the approval from their customers and would set a priority and schedule
for the work to be done. Every morning, the program would
automatically printout a prioritized lists of “orders” for each of the
trade groups. Then, as the work was performed, the program interrogated
the companies time card system and applied these costs against each project. The material costs were also entered against against each of the work orders. The data allowed the program to generate a number of reports for the cost and
schedule for each project. A unique custom report
system was also developed that greatly helped the customer service
department to manage the trade groups as well as provide information to
management in a timely manner. This system successfully helped the customer
service group to be successful and to be able to identify opportunities for improvement.

The above application was developed on a mini-LAN with a Unix operating
system. Besides designing and developing the application, support for
the project was also provided which included training the system
operator for their Unix system.

There has also been a wide variety of project management data base
applications, Video display applications and other unique software projects.